Discussion (10) ¬

But of course we all know, that dead guy was a (criminal/drug user/violent thug/gang member/whatever). And just think of how dangerous it is to be a cop, having to deal with violently dangerous walmart shoppers and jaywalkers all the time!

And it ain’t just black guys. In Salt Lake City recently three kids walked out of a store as the cops rolled up, responding to some report of a robbery somewhere. One kid was wearing headphones, so when the cops yelled for everybody to drop, the kid went to turn off his music before saying “What?” He’s now dead.

When I lived in South Florida the cops apprehended a white kid during a burglary, made him lie down, and stuck a shotgun against his back. Then the shotgun went off, severing his spine. The cops then (1) came up with the cockamamie excuse that the shotgun went off because…because…because the safety was defective, yeah, that’s it, nobody pulled the trigger! Then they accused the dead guy of every unsolved robbery for the previous six months.

Look, I know the cops face a lot of bad stuff. But how do we weed out the bad ones? How do we keep ordinary cops from getting so burned out that they become the bad ones?

Back about high school I heard one guy suggest that cops should be drafted from the community. That sounds weird….but could it be any worse than Ferguson’s out-of-control Iron Guards?

By the way, here’s a vague thought that popped into my otherwise empty head:
Can a police force be sued under the RICO act, as a racketeering organization? Any attorney types out there have a thought on this?

Can it be that they condone police heavy handedness because it makes them all the more terrifying and more effective at keeping us in line? It’s worse to be confronted by a stupid, violent cop free to do as he pleases, than to have one with some intelligence and proper training, who has to answer for his actions. A great illustrated comment, Keith. I can’t call it a comic. I admire the range of subjects that you cover, from the family stuff all the way to the angry satires like this. Thanks!

Hello Keith,
I have been following the story in Ferguson closely because here in southern Germany we had around the same time a cop shooting an (alleged) drug dealer in the head (he said he aimed at the legs). It was really interesting (in a rather morbid way) to see how both stories evolved in two different countries/cultures. If you are interested, have your wife google “polizist erschießt mann in burghausen” for details.

While there was an uproar here, it stayed peaceful. I just can not wrap my head around how things can get out of control like they did in Ferguson.

Actually, I have no idea what point I’d like to make with this, I’m simply sickened by the insane violence everywhere in this world.

Thank you for your comics, they are always providing food for thought.

Gravestones and Nightsticks!!
This is a strip I did years ago, and unfortunately, it remains evergreen. I just update the names on the gravestones.

For those of you who have never seen Keef’s strip called ‘Nightsticks and Tombstones”, it includes a field of graves with the names of the people who have been killed by police in ‘less than clear’ circumstances. The following is Keef’s own recent commentary, followed by by response.

“Kelly Thomas, one of the new names, was the one I thought would be a game- changer. He was a homeless schizophrenic that was the son of a retired police officer. But it didn’t stop Fullerton cops from beating him so bad, he never recovered. You may have seen the pic his dad posted online from the hospital. Consider yourself lucky if you didn’t.”

“The cops got off.”

Oh, Keef —

When Bartlett’s (deservedly) gets around to including you, they simply have GOT to include your arctic, biting, multilevel, and perfect:

Bottom line on Ferguson & the entire issue of race in America: You cannot maintain an economic system devoted to funneling wealth & privilege to a few at the top without defining a group needed to be at the bottom. In the U.S., with our history of racism embedded in our very Constitution (until the 14th Amendment), that group has always been black people (either as overt property or impoverished ‘free’ people). And, history has proven that regardless of race or ethnicity, any challenge to the white Christian, male dominated power structure of the U.S. will be met with unbridled brutality to insure the ‘lessons’ are learned. This includes ‘mowing the lawn’ on occasion (to borrow an Israeli term for the brutalization of Palestinians) by senselessly gunning down black males with or without some incident that can be trotted out as ‘provocation’ Naturally, the uprisings by blacks will always be more frequent and more harshly suppressed because they represent a sizable population to deal with if sufficiently outraged to engage in overt insurrection and are more motivated to do so by their enforced poverty and repression. ﻿